James Morrison insists there’s a tremendous level of excitement within the group for the opening home fixture of the 2026/27 campaign.
Albion return home to The Hawthorns for the first time since late April on Sunday lunchtime, with Morrison’s men hosting recently-relegated Burnley in the Sky Bet Championship (ko midday).
The Baggies will head into the clash with the Clarets full of confidence after back-to-back away victories at Rotherham United in the Carabao Cup and Norwich City in the second tier to kick the new campaign off.
The boss says the whole squad are looking forward to this weekend’s showdown in front of their own supporters, but also stressed the importance of “backing up” last Saturday’s eye-catching result at Carrow Road against the Canaries and making their home stadium a “fortress”.
Morrison said: “Burnley were relegated from the Premier League last year, but they’re still very strong and they’ve still got a very good side. They’ve got some very good players that we’re going to have to be wary of.
“I want to focus on us and I want us to impose ourselves on them. I felt that we were a bit tentative last weekend at Norwich, and that’s understandable given it was the first game of the season and we were away from home against a very good opponent.
“I knew we were going to get tested last weekend and I know we’ll get tested once more this weekend when we come up against Burnley. It’s about coming through those moments where you’re under pressure and taking your opportunities when they come at the other end.
“The first home game of any new season is always exciting. I’ve been really looking forward to our first home game, and even more so now after last weekend’s positive result on the road.
“I think there will be a lot of excitement at The Hawthorns on Sunday, but it’s still really early days and we need to make sure our home for is really strong and that the place is like a fortress, as it has been in recent years a lot of the time.
“Teams have got to fear coming to The Hawthorns, but that’s up to us to put the intensity in the game and take encounters to the opposition.
“The players are excited to be back at home, and a big part of that excitement comes from the victory last weekend. It’s been important to keep the players level-headed going into this fixture because it’s another big test and one win doesn’t mean you’ve achieved something. You’ve got to back results up and we’ve got to try and get another win having won last weekend. Back-to-back wins does wonders in this league.
“We all remember the atmosphere in our last game at The Hawthorns against Ipswich in late April. We’ve got to try and create that atmosphere again with the fans. We can thrive off atmospheres like that and I want the fans to get excited when thinking about coming to The Hawthorns to watch the team they’re so proud of.”
